ExoForce: The Split Mountain Era
by Seph Armstrong
Summary: The Mountain Dwellers thought the trouble was over when they drove Meca One and his forces off Sentai mountain, but now he and his army of robots have returned. Already they have recaptured the southern half of the mountain, and now the ExoForce is the only thing that stands between the Mountain Dwellers and extinction. Enjoy! I don't own ExoForce.
1. Chapter 1

_The peak of Sentai Mountain reaches high above the clouds. Tales tell of a legendary civilization that once ruled the planet from its peak, leading humanity in a golden age of progress. But after an age of prosperity, the Golden civilization faded and disappeared. Thousands of years later, a group of settlers braved the perils of the lower mountain in order to start a new life away from the post-apocalyptic turmoil of the surface world. They searched for the legendary home of the Golden civilization, but were unable to locate it, so they built their own home and forged a new life for themselves above the clouds._

 _The mountain dwellers, as the settlers began to call themselves, grew rapidly, expanding over more and more of the mountain. They began a peaceful era of healing and building. Using scraps of leftover knowledge from the surface world, and bits of technology found in Golden age ruins, the mountain dwellers achieved their greatest success. To help their still small civilization with the daunting task of building a home out of the side of a mountain, they build powerful robots to help with the work, imbuing them with a rudimentary artificial intelligence. The robots proved to be an invaluable asset, capable of doing the tough jobs that humans wouldn't survive. Their only downside was that their intelligence level required constant supervision. But that changed when they built Meca One, the first truly intelligent AI. He was given command over the robots in the lower mines, the most dangerous ones, and left to work on his own, slowly learning from his experiences._

 _After a hundred years, Meca One rebelled. The robots repurposed their mining machines and launched an attack on the mountain dwellers. Meca One was smart, but despite that he was still inexperienced. His attack was quickly halted. In desperation, he launched a desperate last ditch effort to destroy his creators. He split the mountain in half._

 _Meca One and his robots were thrown off the mountain within a week of his last attack, the human's onslaught fueled by rage and pain at the great loss caused by the splitting. The robots disappeared into the Gorge, the pit between the two halves of the mountain. The mountain dwellers vowed never to create robots such as Meca One again, and began the long process of rebuilding everything that had been lost in the split._

 _In ten years, all had almost been forgotten. Countless bridges had been built to span the rift between the north and south halves of the mountain. Life was returning to normal as work continued on both sides of Sentai mountain._

 _But everything changed when Meca One returned from the Gorge…_

Sentai Mountain

0300

Ganchu Bridge

Ha-Ya-To really needed to scratch his head. It had been itching for the last ten minutes and was slowly driving him crazy. That was the worst part about guard duty; being locked inside a battle machine for hours on end, unable to do so many things that people took for granted. Like scratching an itch. Totally impossible while locked inside a half ton of hydraulics, weapons, and armor. The machine was almost cool enough to make up for it, though. Ha-Ya-To's rig made him stand about nine feet tall, and it was one of the smaller types. He could feel the controls for his mass driver cannon in his left hand, and his robotic suit matched his every movement flawlessly. And best of all, he knew that there was enough power packed into the battle machine's foot thrusters to give him one heck of a ride.

"Are you paying attention?" a voice asked.

Ha-Ya-To spun to see Swift giving him a funny look, his head and chest visible through the large armored visor of his identical Gate Defender.

"Of course!" Ha-Ya-To said with a grin. "You know me; I'm always focused." He subconsciously tried to scratch again and hit his robotic hand against his cockpit. Swift grinned.

"Nice to know." He said. Both pilots broke away from each other to resume their patrol routes.

Like most of the bridges that spanned the chasm between the North and South Mountain, Ganchu Bridge was actually a network of bridges. It was an array of five parallel pathways, arranged in a square with the main bridge in the middle. Each of the supplementary bridges was connected to Ganchu-Main by ramps at various points along its length. Just up ahead, Ha-Ya-To could see the ramp hub that marked to farthest point of their patrol route. His radio kicked in.

"Dragon squad, this is Exo-Central. We are picking up movement on the South Mountain near your bridge. Stay alert."

Ha-Ya-To keyed his radio.

"Central, this is Dragon-1" He said, "Thanks for the heads up; we'll be ready." He switched to his squad channel.

"Look alive, Dragon, we have possible incoming."

"This is Dragon-2, Copy." Swift replied.

"This is Dragon-3, Copy."

"Dragon-4, Copy."

Ha-Ya-To nodded at the report, then turned and headed up the ramp to his left at a jog, towards the Ganchu-1 sub-bridge. He glanced down at his instruments on the way up, checking to see if command had sent any radar contacts, but there weren't any. Four more steps, and he reached the top of the ramp.

Ganchu-1 was much smaller than the main bridge, but still a good hundred feet across. Several old cars still littered its surface, leftovers from before the rebellion, and would provide partial cover, but not much. Ha-Ya-To shrugged, figuring it would be as much a hindrance to them as it would be to him. _If they even show up_ He thought to himself. He couldn't think of any reason why the robots would launch an attack on this bridge; it was not particularly close to anywhere important, and not in a particularly good place for a larger scale operation. The robots only ever attacked when they had something to gain. _It's probably just another false alarm, then_.

Ha-Ya-To started forwards slowly, squinting into the perpetual thick fog of the chasm, looking for any signs of the enemy. Nothing. _Now comes the waiting part._ Ha-Ya-To piloted his Gate Defender over to an overturned car to get some cover. Minutes ticked by slowly. Finally, he put the Defender into sentry mode. He could feel the machine locking up around him, freeing him to relax without it falling over. There was nothing he liked less than sitting around waiting for something that might not even happen. Finally, he radioed base.

"Central, this is Dragon-1: Do you have any radar buoys in the air to ID the possible incoming targets?"

"Negative, Dragon-1, our last buoy moved out of range just as we caught sight of the activity."

Ha-Ya-To perked up slightly. If the robots were going to attack, they would probably do it right after a buoy passed. The odds of a skirmish were higher than he thought.

"We've got robots!" Dragon-3 yelled, and half second later Ha-Ya-To saw a green flash from behind him.

"Reactivate!" Ha-Ya-To yelled, his voice command triangulating with his mental command. The Gate Defender's power surged as it brought functions back on line.

"Fire Vultures, flying under Ganchu Main!" Three yelled, firing another round. The next second, two Battle Machines appeared from under the main bridge, flying at breakneck speed towards Swift and Dragon-4's position on Main.

"There's two more under Ganchu-2!" Swift called. Ha-Ya-To turned, and brought his canon to bear on the Vultures screaming along under the bridge opposite him. He could hear Swift and Two open fire on the Vultures bearing down on them, but held his fire as he carefully tracked the other two. _Easy does it…_ He fired. A glowing green projectile soared through the air, and slammed into the lead machine's shoulder. Fragments from both the round and the armor flew into the air, and the machine swerved wildly for a moment before losing altitude. A second round from Three plowed into its torso before it could regain control.

The second Vulture veered sharply to its right, lining up with Ha-Ya-To. He grinned. _I suppose that's what I get for messing with his friend._ He lined up a second shot.

"Watch out, Ha-Ya-To, there's more of them!"

Ha-Ya-To spun around at Swifts yell, and instantly brought his arms up for protection. Another Fire Vulture had landed on his bridge, and fired at point blank range. Flames engulfed his Gate Defender, obscuring his view. Even through the armor Ha-Ya-To could feel the heat, and he knew he couldn't last long. He coiled back his right arm and drove it forward with all his might at where he had last seen the Vulture. He felt it connect. Flames spewed every direction as the Vulture's flamethrower was forced off target. _Oh yeah_ Ha-Ya-To thought, a grin plastered across his face. He stepped forward, keeping at point blank range with his opponent, and brought his mass driver to bear on the cockpit. He could see the bronze colored robot inside, rebalancing his machine, winked at it, and pulled the trigger.

The mass driver canon was a very simple weapon system; it merely did what its name suggested, and the cockpit of the Fire Vulture exploded under the force of the solid slug being propelled into it. The Battle Machine dropped like a rock. Ha-Ya-To turned back towards where the others were fighting, the adrenaline fueled grin still on his face. One of the first Fire Vultures lay burning on Ganchu Main, just in front of where Swift was covering for Dragon-4. Two's Gate Defender lay smoldering on its back. Ha-Ya-To's breath caught. Swift's voice sounded through the radio.

"Four is down, but still alive" He said, "I need some cover for the evac!"

Dragon-3 replied.

"Negative, Two, I'm engaged on Ganchu-3."

"I'm on my way!" Ha-Ya-To said, running towards the edge of the bridge. He leapt off the edge, launching himself across the gap between bridges, and landed forty feet below on Ganchu Main. He grunted at the force of the impact, but quickly sprinted to an overturned semi near the center of the bridge. Two fireballs narrowly missed him before he slid safely behind cover. He was now in between Swift and the robots.

"I got you covered, Swift, begin evac now." He ordered. He stepped out of cover, and fired two rounds in quick succession at the robot Battle Machines. There were two of them advancing through the open, apparently sacrificing cover in order to try and eliminate Swift and Four before they got help. Both rounds ricocheted off the lead Machine's armor, and Ha-Ya-To dodged back behind his cover before they got a chance to flame him. That was the one problem with the Mass Drivers: Their effectiveness decreased with range. The only way a driver round could penetrate the thick frontal armor of an enemy machine was at close range. A fireball hit the far side of the truck, sending drops of flaming fuel splattering over the top and onto Ha-Ya-To's Gate Defender. Then he heard a distinct whirring sound. He took a step back from the cover and saw both Fire Vultures lifting into the air and training their flamethrowers and shoulder lasers on him. _They're going to try and send me running so they can get to easier pickings_ Ha-Ya-To realized. He would have to stall them. He grinned at the thought.

Ha-Ya-To shifted his weight slightly, bending his knees in preparation for his next action.

"Thrusters." He said sharply, the computer instantly recognizing and executing the orders. He felt the jet thrusters spinning up beneath his feet, grin still spread across his face as engines kicked in.

"Full power!" He yelled. He surged into the air, flames pouring out from his Defenders feet, tearing through the air at the two robots. Fireballs whipped past him as the Vultures tried to intercept him, but Ha-Ya-To was coming too quickly and too suddenly. He shoulder bashed the one on the left without slowing, then whipped back around to bring his canon to bear on the other one. The first Vulture plummeted crazily towards the lower level, and the other jetted straight upwards. Ha-Ya-To started off after the upper one. No need to let the other one get away, though.

"Three, you got one coming down your way."

"Copy that!" Three replied.

Ha-Ya-To tore through the air in pursuit of the Fire Vulture. It quickly leveled out, and swerved back towards the Southern side of the mountain, heading for the safer airspace around the Robot controlled territory. Ha-Ya-To slowed to a stop, and let it go. _Keep going, buddy_ he thought, _we'll deal with you later._

"Ha-Ya-To! We've got more incoming!" Dragon-3's voice cut through the radio. Ha-Ya-To turned mid-air to look. Sure enough, two more Fire Vultures were barreling down the Ganchu bridge, but from his position closer to the Robot side of the mountain, Ha-Ya-Ta could see that they weren't alone.

"Dragon squad, fall back to Ganchu gate; we've got Thunder Furies."

He revved his engines back to full power, and rocketed back towards the North side of the mountain. _So much for a small skirmish_ he thought to himself. _This fight is just getting started._

 **A/N**

Thanks for reading!

Just a few things that might not be clear from the chapter that I want to clear up. First, the positioning of the bridges. It was kinda hard to explain it in the story, since all the characters already know how it's arranged, but the way that it is arranged is as follows: Ganchu Main is in the middle, Ganchu-1 is top left, Ganchu-2 is top right, Ganchu-3 is bottom right, and Ganchu-4 is bottom left. The numbers start from the left and go clockwise.

Second is the sonar buoy bit. The chasm between the two halves of the mountain are perpetually filled with a kind of mist/dust that obscures each side of the mountain from each other. The reason that they use radar buoys instead normal radar is because it could be backtracked by the enemy and used to target long range artillery strikes. Therefore neither side uses stationary radar so they don't get their bases shot off the mountainside. The buoys are basically balloons with radars on them that transmit data back to Exo-Central only if they see something, making them much harder to pinpoint.

Please review if you get a chance! Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N: I don't own ExoForce._**

 _Sentai Fortress_

 _0530 hrs_

 _Training room_

He slowly eased the bar back to into the bracket of the weight bench, sweat running down his face, and sat up. Taking a deep breath, Tekeshi relaxed his muscles for the first time in an hour. Other pilots were just starting to arrive at the gym for their morning workouts, which meant his sparring partner would be arriving soon. He scooped up his towel and gym bag and headed towards the training rooms. Glancing to his left while walking through the facility, he saw a blue haired figure in one of the simulation rooms. He recognized the man, and had trained with him on a couple occasions, but didn't remember his name. He paused to watch.

The room generated three target figures and sent them towards the man, while simultaneously beginning a barrage of glowing projectiles from various points along the wall. Tekeshi recognized the sequence as one of the more difficult settings that the room was capable of generating. Instantly, the man whipped his double-sided sword in a quick slash, while simultaneously sliding to the left. Two of the projectiles exploded into holographic sparks as the vibro-blade smashed through them, the rest whizzing past the man. Without hesitating, the figure kicked forwards off of his coiled left leg, catapulting through the air in a side flip. The end of the sword flicked out twice in mid-air, shattering two more projectiles before being driven through the center of the first target as the man's feet touched the ground.

Unlike the projectiles, the targets were actual hardlight projections that took effort to break, but the man's vibro-blade strike shattered it with little apparent effort. Without pausing, the man took one step forward and slid his right hand down to the lower blade, the blade deactivating automatically upon contact with his combat wired glove. The computer predicted his next location and fired five more projectiles rapidly directly at where his next step would take him. But he didn't take another step forwards. Instead, he drew himself up onto his lead foot, and threw his vibro-blade forwards with both hands. The force of the throw counteracted his forward momentum, and he quickly dropped to the ground to avoid the projectiles. He landed right hand on the floor in front of him to provide balance so that he didn't need to lose his footing. At the same moment the projectiles whipped past him, his blades cleaved through the second target and smashed into the third. The simulation abruptly ended, the words "Scenario Complete" flashing in the air briefly.

Tekeshi grunted. He never recalled that in the various times he had seen him fight, he had been impressed by his skill, but not his fighting style. Too much reliance on speed and maneuvering to be reliable. _If there was ever a time where this guy didn't have room to maneuver,_ Tekeshi mused, _He wouldn't last a minute._

The man rose from his crouch, and gestured towards the control panel on the wall with his control glove. The room projected a hardlight band around the handle of the vibro-blade and returned it to it's owner.

Tekeshi turned to resume his walk to the sparring arena at the same moment the man turned around.

"What'd you think?" The man asked, his voice not sounding strained from his exertions. Tekeshi paused and looked back over his shoulder, pausing for a moment to consider his answer. The man waited expectantly in the doorway to the training room with a slight grin on his face.

"Impressive." He said simply. It was true; his speed was impressive. _It's just your strategy that's flawed_ He thought. He considered adding that, but thought better of it. No need to ruffle feathers, and he got the impression from the man's confidant posture that he wouldn't enjoy the criticism. Unfortunately, he must have seen the slight hesitation in Tekeshi's countenance.

"But…?"

"But what?"

"You don't look very impressed, so there has to be a 'but'"

Tekeshi sighed again. _Oh well. He asked._ Tekeshi turned so that he didn't have to look over his shoulder anymore before answering.

"You rely too much on speed and agility." He said, "That's dangerous."

The other man raised an eyebrow.

"Are you saying I should rely on being slow and immobile?" his smile deepened slightly at the idea.

Tekeshi glowered.

"No," He growled, "I'm saying that it only works if you are always faster than your opponent and have room to maneuver. Take either of those away and you are…" Tekeshi paused, stopping himself from saying 'dead'. That was much too serious a topic to broach lightly.

"Ineffective." He concluded. This time, the man considered his words for a moment, but Tekeshi could see that he then dismissed them.

"What would you suggest? Somehow I doubt going slower is going to help much."

Tekeshi answered immediately.

"The only way to win is to be able to go toe to toe with your opponent. Match him blow for blow. When worst comes to worst, and there is nowhere to go, you have to be able to out fight him." Tekeshi was the one to smirk this time. "Not just out dance him."

He realized about a half-second too late that he probably shouldn't have said the last part. The smile on the man in front of him immediately disappeared, being replaced with a dark scowl.

"Care to show me how it's done?" He asked, a trace of anger in his voice. The question was more of a challenge than anything else. Tekeshi turned the rest of the way around so that he was now fully facing the man, sizing him up.

"You want to spar?" He asked, slightly incredulous. The man didn't move. He was serious. He glanced at his watch, and then he shook his head.

"I'm busy right now; I'm scheduled to be training with someone in arena 4."

"Don't worry," Blue hair said, a sly smile once again creeping onto his face, "This won't take long."

He knew that he had ticked the guy off, but even still Tekeshi couldn't let that pass. His sparring partner could wait for a minute. _And he's right; a minute is all this will take,_ He determined grimly.

Without a word, Tekeshi stepped through the door and into the training room. He pulled his control gloves from his gym bag, and dropped both the bag and his towel on the small bench in the corner of the room. He walked over to the control panel, and pressed his gloved hand against it. The panel made a noise, then his name flashed onto the screen momentarily before being replaced with his portrait and sliding down to a corner of the screen. A synthetic voice piped up, seeming to come from all around the room.

"Please state your name and designation in order to synchronize voice commands."

"Tekeshi Ojiyama, assigned to the L-01 Grand Titan."

The voice then addressed the other pilot.

"Please state your name and designation to confirm the addition of the other combatant to the simulation room."

The man had taken his place at the far side of the room, leaning against the wall.

"Hikaru Tenshin, assigned to the A-01 Stealth Hunter."

Tekeshi had to stop himself from showing any surprise. _So this is the pilot of the Stealth Hunter_ He thought. The Stealth Hunter was the first and only of the heavy airborne battle-machines. It was the most powerful airborne machine in the arsenal, but the time it took to manufacture prohibited further production. Command had made sure that the best flyer they had available had gotten the job of flying it. _And I guess this is who they choose. Figures that I ticked off the fleet's prize pilot._ Tekeshi took a moment to evaluate his soon to be opponent.

He was about the same height as Tekeshi, and although he was slightly smaller in stature, appeared no less fit. He had a very confident bearing that extended to the way he handled his weapon. And the speed that he had shown in the simulator was indeed impressive. Tekeshi figured that this guy could put up a decent fight, but nothing changed his initial assumption that he was a better fighter. Golden boy of the fleet or not, he was going down.

Tekeshi reached once again into his gym bag, curling his fingers around the hilt of his weapon. People often wondered why his gym bag was so long, but the reason was made apparent as he drew out his sword. Most pilots carried the mass produced collapsible swords, which were much more portable and just as effective. Every inch of Tekeshi's curved blade, however, was solid and un-mechanized; and classically forged katana.

He drew it out of the bag, leaving its sheath behind, and held it out to his side. A layer of hardlight sent by the simulation room formed over the razor sharp edge, hovering for a moment before clamping down firmly. He could hear Hikaru's vibro-blade reboot as it synchronized with the new operating parameters of the room. The blades would automatically deactivate before making contact with him. The worst either of them could be hurt was limited to blunt impact.

Both fighters took up their stances in the center of the room. Tekeshi nodded to Hikaru to let him know that he was ready, and they began.

Tekeshi wasted no time in going on the offensive. Two quick steps covered the distance between them, and he launched a powerful two-handed crosscut at Hikaru's midsection. Hikaru slipped back a step to avoid the strike, preparing to counter, but Tekeshi's next strike was already on its way. His swing had been powerful but controlled, and he seamlessly transitioned into hard thrust. Hikaru was forced to dodge again, deflecting the sword with one of his blades while stepping out of the way. Tekeshi pushed his attack, his strokes fast and forceful but never uncontrolled. All the while watching Hikaru, waiting for him to launch his counterattack.

He threw another diagonal cut from the left, and Hikaru dodged under it. As he followed through with his cut, Hikaru disappeared from sight. _There it is,_ Tekeshi thought. Even though he was expecting it, the move was incredibly difficult to track. All he got was a glimpse of white out of the corner of his eye. Hikaru was behind him. Tekeshi took one step forward, pivoting his hips, and swung his sword one handed over his shoulder, bringing it down through the area between him and Hikaru. He could see Hikaru's blade lancing towards his ribs, triumph beginning to form on his face. His vibro-blade had nearly crashed into Tekeshi's side when the katana slammed it straight down to the floor. Hikaru tried to pull his blade free, and that gave Tekeshi all the time he needed. Tekeshi launched himself forward, using his sword to keep the end of Hikaru's blade pinned down, and drove his left fist into Hikaru's face.

Hikaru

Hikaru saw the blow just in time, and jerked his head to the side. He managed to avoid taking the brunt of the impact, and without wasting anymore time, spun backwards. He kept one hand on the end of his vibro-blade. Hikaru arched backwards, planting his right hand on the ground behind him, and flipped backwards. As he launched off the ground, he kicked the handle of his own weapon his foot. Despite his opponent having a firm grip on it, the force of the kick knocked his weapon free and Hikaru took it with him. He did two more similar flips before landing lightly at the far end of the room. He looked at Tekeshi incredulously. He could feel the cheek that his punch had glanced off of begin to burn. It would probably bruise quite thoroughly. That was definitely a full force punch; he hadn't held back even a little.

 _So,_ Hikaru though, _that's how you want to do this._ _If you want to play rough, then we will._ Hikaru stood straight, a confidant half smile returning to his face. He had already gotten a feel for Tekeshi's speed and strength, so he could easily evade his attacks and counterattack should the opportunity present itself. And now that he knew that Tekeshi wasn't going to follow conventional sparring standards, he could handle that too. However, he wasn't going to stop at that. If Tekeshi could change the rules, so could he.

"One on one is fine and all," He said, holding up one hand towards the control panel, "But hardly realistic. There aren't any duels on the battlefield."

Hikaru clenched his fist, activating the room voice control.

"Multiple projectiles, battle scenario" He instructed, "Targeting both combatants."

 _That'll get him._ Tekeshi had been totally focused on Hikaru's movements during the previous encounter. There was no way that he would be able to keep up with more than just him to worry about. He wasn't sure, but Hikaru though that he could see the same thought flash across his opponent's face. Maybe it was his imagination. Either way, the look was soon replaced by look that could only be described as extremely ticked off. _Good._

"That won't help." Tekeshi said, tightening his grip on his sword. Hikaru twirled his two ended weapon experimentally.

"Why don't we get started and find out?"

The onslaught began. Projectiles whirled out from the glowing nodes on the wall, spiraling across the room towards and around the combatants. The computer was programmed not to have one hundred percent accuracy, and also to launch decoys that weren't targeting either person. That way there was no way to predict which projectiles were a threat, except to stay alert to every single one. Just the way Hikaru liked it.

He slowly started forward, hearing every discharge and accounting for every projectile. That way he knew when there was one coming from behind him, and he didn't have to keep looking there. Every projectile that came too close, he effortlessly smashed with his blades as he worked his way back towards Tekeshi.

Tekeshi was waiting for him, scanning his surroundings and slashing anything that came too close. It was time for Hikaru to go on the offensive.

He waited for another projectile to come flying past, not something that took very long, and blew it to pieces with a precise swing. Holographic sparks exploded into the air, and Hikaru quickly reversed his blades and leapt through the explosion with a horizontal slash leading the way. To Tekeshi, it looked like Hikaru had just stopped another projectile, but suddenly he was right in front of him. Tekeshi just managed to duck under the attack, but Hikaru had figured that he would be able to thwart his first strike. He immediately swung the other side of his weapon upwards towards his opponent. He had ducked straight into the blow. Somehow, Tekeshi managed to interpose his blade between Hikaru's and himself, but the blow knocked his sword out of position. Tekeshi leapt back to buy himself some room, but Hikaru didn't give him the chance. He took one bounding step, and flipped over Tekeshi's head while he was still doubled over from his duck. He was already lashing out with his vibro-blade before his feet touched the ground. His leading blade sliced hard across the back of his opponent's knees.

 _So much for not needing speed and agility!_ Hikaru thought. However, Tekeshi didn't flinch, Hikaru saw him pivot slightly, before recognizing his next attack. He pulled his weapon up in time to take the force of Tekeshi's back kick on the hilt. The force of it knocked him back a step. _Apparently this fight isn't going to end even after I've won_ Hikaru thought grimly. He needed to keep Tekeshi from getting his momentum back. _So I'll just be fast and agile, and see what happens._

Hikaru knew that he was fairly close to the wall behind him, especially after that kick. He turned, jumped at the wall, and kicked off it back at Tekeshi. Tekeshi swung his blade to intercept him, but Hikaru deflected it with one blade and struck with the other. The only thing Tekeshi could do was use his arm to block. Tekeshi recoiled at the impact letting out a stifled cry at the pain. Hikaru landed right in front of him, and drove his shoulder into his chest. Tekeshi staggered back, lost his balance, and tumbled to the ground. Hikaru hoisted his vibro-blade onto his shoulder and held up his hand to stop the projectile program. As Tekeshi picked himself up off the ground, Hikaru spoke, more serious this time.

"Next time you insult someone, make sure you know what you're talking about beforehand."

Tekeshi held up his hand towards the control panel and clenched his fist.

"Interior corridor program number two."

A glimmer appeared in the air, spreading into the shape of a rectangle overhead, then connecting to the ground to form a corridor. And it wasn't a very spacious corridor either. It was about 12 feet wide, and stretched from one end of the room to the other, essentially locking Hikaru into the relatively small face with someone determined to teach him a lesson.

Thoughts swirled through Hikaru's mind as Tekeshi started towards him. Since when did the Exo-Force ever have to fight in hallways? There was no way that he would ever let himself get trapped somewhere he couldn't maneuver. This whole situation was ridiculous. Mostly, however, he knew that this was going to hurt. He braced himself for the impact.

This time around, Hikaru had no choice but to take the full force of every one of Tekeshi's blows. He knew that he had been hitting hard before, but now that he couldn't just dodge out of the way he could feel it for himself. Tekeshi was definitely stronger than he was, and Hikaru was forced into a slow retreat. _I just need to keep him from getting too much momentum._

Hikaru timed his counterattack, launching it just after blocking to try and thwart his opponent's forward movement. Tekeshi wasn't trying to build momentum, though. Tekeshi's blade angled back in front of him to block the vibro-blade, but he didn't break rhythm, and his next attack was on the way without missing a beat. Hikaru narrowly deflected the attack. _He's just going to back me into the wall!_ Hikaru realized. He stepped back to avoid the next blow and buy himself a little breathing room. There was no way that he was going to lose to this guy.

Hikaru stepped forward again, more determined than ever. He deflected Tekeshi's attack, and immediately countered with one of his own. Again, Tekeshi blocked it without breaking stride, but Hikaru kept up with him this time. Two more blocks, and another counter. Then a block, a counter, dodge, and attack. Hikaru's retreat began to slow. Tekeshi was beginning to lose his rhythm, trying to move forward but boing unable to. His attacks started becoming more forceful and less controlled, and his blocks slower. Hikaru could almost sense the opportunity, and he swung his blade harder than ever on his next counterattack. The two blades crossed, and held; both men staring over them at each other.

Sweat dripped down Tekeshi's face, plastering his hair to his skull, and Hikaru assumed that he looked the same way. Both of them were breathing hard. Nonetheless, he could feel a cocky smile forming on his face. He saw Tekeshi grunt, and felt his vibro-blade move upwards. _Oh no…_ Hikaru tried to move back, but he had seen the attack too late even for his speed to help much.

The hilt of Tekeshi's weapon crashed upward into Hikaru's jaw. Instantly, Hikaru's head snapped back, and white flashed before his eyes. He could vaguely feel himself falling, the ceiling of the room appearing as a blur above him. Nothing seemed concrete or real anymore, until he saw something green appear above him. He forced his lethargic mind to focus, and what he saw snapped him back to full alert. Tekeshi spun his sword once over his head, and inverted his grip so the tip was pointed straight down. Hikaru tightened his grip on his vibro-blade. _He's going to…_

Tekeshi yelled as he drove his sword downwards towards Hikaru's chest. With a roar Hikaru thrust his blade upwards at Tekeshi's midsection. No matter what happened, this wasn't going to end well.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**

 **I don't own ExoForce**

Sentai Fortress

0630

Hangar bay

Ryo woke with a jolt, the siren like sound of his pager splitting the air. _Darn, that thing is loud_ he thought groggily, reaching blindly for the device on the table in front of him. He heard several crashes as things fell to the ground before his hands closed around the pager and he thumbed the button on the side.

"H-Hello?" he asked, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. He could just make out the engineering chief's profile on the screen.

"Ryo, report to hangar bay three at once. Dragon team is coming in from a fight, and you need to run the cooldown on their battle machines."

"Roger that, I'll be right there." Ryo put down the pager and groaned. Absolutely everything hurt. His muscles were sore, his mouth felt dry, and it seemed to take a monumental effort to actually open his eyes. Finally he managed it and looked around, confused by his surroundings. _Where am I…_

Then it dawned on him. He'd fallen asleep in the engineering shop again. _Well, darn_ he thought, _that explains why I feel so terrible._ He pulled himself upright in his chair, his muscles protesting the whole time, and sucked in a deep breath. _Coffee._ He looked to his right, evaluating his distance from the coffee machine. _Too far._ He clapped his hands twice.

"Uplink!" He called. He heard a whir, then the all too familiar double chirping sound as the robot announced that it was ready to receive orders.

"Coffee…" He mumbled. The brown orange machine chirped, and walked to the coffee machine. Ryo couldn't help smiling at the sight of his custom built battle machine carefully carrying out his orders. Within moments, Uplink brought him a cup of reheated coffee, and Ryo accepted it gratefully.

"Thanks, boy." He said, cradling the mug appreciatively. Uplink chirped twice.

After a few sips, Ryo finally found the energy to stand up. The one good thing about sleeping in the engineering shop was that it was right next door to the hangar bay. Ryo scooped his headband off of the table as he headed for the door, pressing it to his temple briefly to send a mental command to Uplink. Usually he preferred voice commands, but in this case he decided that coffee was more important. The robot followed him out the door, and into the hangar bay.

Already the sound of power tools and equipment filled the hangar as the other engineers prepared to receive the damaged battle machines. Ryo picked his way through the mass of tangled wires and tubes of hydraulic fluid sprawled across the floor to his work station. He punched the check-in button with his thumb, and immediately sat down on his workbench. There were already two Gate Defenders in the corner being worked on, and Ryo eyed them curiously for a moment. He took one last long sip of his coffee, set it down on the table, and stood up again. He put on his headband, tying it firmly around his head.

"Let's go, Uplink." He said. The two of them quickly went about the task of gathering the tools they would likely need. The page hadn't mentioned anything about needing to get the battle machines back into the field right away, so they wouldn't have to work under a time limit once they got to the hangar. Besides, if there was a large enough battle that required these mechs to make a fast turnaround, Ryo would have heard about it long before now.

"Leave the replacement armor, Uplink. We won't need it right away." Ryo finished powering up his last tool just as the hangar bay doors cracked open. Almost immediately the bay was filled with the characteristic whirrs, clicks, and hums of battle machines. Ryo's eyes grew wide as he watched machine after machine make its way into the bay. _I guess it was a bigger fight than I thought._ He could see smashed armor and damaged systems on nearly every walker that came through the door. A Grand Titan limped through the doorway, its entire right arm gone, and its left leg looking like it was going to follow. If they had called in the Grand Titans, then things must have gotten pretty bad. In total, eleven damaged battle machines had staggered in to be repaired.

The shriek of jet thrusters cut through the din of the hangar bay, growing rapidly before cutting suddenly. All the other pilots with flying craft had landed in the staging area next door and walked their machines into the bay. This maniac had obviously decided to pull off a much harder, and more obnoxious, landing in the doorway. Ryo looked up a split second before the Gate Defender slammed into the ground, the shockwave reverberating through the enclosed hangar. Another Defender impacted behind it, no more gently than the first, earning scowls from the other repair crews. He could just make out a green dragon logo painted on the chest plate of each mech. Ryo raised an eyebrow as both machines made their way over to his station. _I guess Dragon Team is here._ He wasn't sure, but he suspected that he knew who was piloting the first mech. He could just make out his bright red hair through the Defender's canopy.

Ryo waited until they reached him.

"Nice of you to drop in." He called. Ha-Ya-To opened the cockpit, the canopy sliding up and the shoulders rolling back. He pulled himself up out of the legs, and dropped to the ground.

"Ah…" he groaned as he stretched, trying to work out the stiffness in his body.

"Long time no see, Ryo." He said, "What'd you think of my landing?" A self-satisfied grin had found its way onto his face. Ryo smirked. He had heard that Ha-Ya-To had been made a team leader and remembered being surprised. This was why.

"Loud." He said simply, then turned to the other pilot. "Weren't you supposed to be keeping an eye on him?"

The brown haired man scoffed as he exited his craft.

"Believe me. I try."

"Oh, admit it, Donavan," Ha-Ya-To cut in, "you'd be bored half to death without me on the team. Besides, you followed me in on the landing; don't tell me it wasn't awesome!"

"Yeah, it was definitely… something else." Donavan agreed. Ha-Ya-To punched him in the arm.

Ryo chuckled, and motioned for Uplink to get started on Dragon-3's machine. He picked up his computer pad and went to start on Ha-Ya-To's Defender. He plugged his pad in to a port in the cockpit of the craft and started a diagnostic to evaluate its damage. Immediately, the screen began to flash red with damage notifications, and Ryo's eyebrows shot up. _He made that kind of landing with this much damage?_

"What did you do to this thing, Ha-Ya-To?" He asked.

"I guess it got a few nicks and scratches, huh?"

"You could say that. Or you could say that this thing is about to fall apart." Ryo said, "Which is closer to the truth."

Ha-Ya-To grinned.

"Cool."

Ryo unplugged his computer, and turned to fully face Ha-Ya-To.

"What really happened? Was there a battle on Tenchi Bridge? I thought I would have heard about something that close to base." He crossed his arms and leaned against the battle machine. Ha-Ya-To sobered slightly.

"No, it wasn't Tenchi. The robots attacked Ganchu bridge."

Ryo raised an eyebrow at that, but remained silent. Ganchu bridge was small and out of the way; not a place you would expect to see a battle with this kind of battle damage. He waited for his companion to continue.

"My team was patrolling the bridge. They waited for the radar buoy to move out of range, then attacked with Fire Vultures to tie us down. We didn't notice the Thunder Furies until they were already halfway across the bridge, and by then it was too late to get reinforcements in time to keep them from reaching the gate."

"The Thunder Furies took out the gate turrets within minutes, and if the Grand Titans had arrived any later we would have lost the gate. Even still, it took hours to push them back across the bridge, and they kept airdropping Iron Drones behind our lines."

Ryo nodded to himself. The Drones were the simplest of the robots, designed to fight on foot rather than in battle machines. Despite that, they were still deadly if not dealt with quickly, and could cripple a battle machine in seconds if it got to close range unnoticed. They had a reputation for sacrificing themselves to manually detonate a machine's power core. Ha-Ya-To continued.

Ha-Ya-To paused for a moment before continuing more quietly.

"Cody got hit pretty bad, and Swift took a round while extracting him. They're both in the Med bay."

Ryo frowned. One look at the man in front of him and he could tell that he felt terrible about his men getting wounded. _That's part of being a team leader, I suppose. It doesn't make it any easier though._ He had seen the aftermath of many battles, and knew how hard casualties could be on a leader. Donovan put a hand on Ha-Ya-To's shoulder.

"Speaking of those two, I'm heading over there now to check on them." He said, purposefully cheerful. "You coming, Dragon-1?"

Ha-Ya-To grinned again, breaking his downcast mood.

"Sure thing. I'll see you later, Ryo."

Ryo nodded.

"Catch you later." He said. The two Defender pilots started across the hangar bay towards the exit as Ryo turned back towards his work. He scrolled slowly through the list of damages, trying to decide where to start. Suddenly he remembered that Ha-Ya-To was now the leader of Dragon team, and that meant there was one more thing that he needed to know in order to do his job.

"Ha-Ya-To!" He called. Both pilots turned around, questioning looks on their faces.

"How many did you get?" He asked. Ha-Ya-To laughed.

"Six." He replied. Ryo pulled a box cutter from his belt and leaned into the cockpit of Ha-Ya-To's Defender. He carefully reached up and etched six more tally marks on the steel panel in the top of the cockpit.

 **A/N**

 **It is a tradition for every team leader to keep track of how many kills they have gotten in their battle machine. I think that is the only thing that I feel I should clarify. Now that all the main characters have been introduced, the story can begin in earnest.**


End file.
